Don Giovanni

Peter Mattei may be the sexy title character and Luca Pisaroni his unhappy servant in Don Giovanni.A Metropolitan Opera manufacture of an opera in 2 functions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Conductor, Fabio Luisi director, Michael Grandage.Don Giovanni - Peter Mattei Leporello - Luca Pisaroni Donna Anna - Marina Rebeka Donna Elvira - Barbara Frittoli Zerlina - Mojca Erdmann Don Ottavio - Ramon Vargas Masetto - Joshua Blossom The Comendatore - Stefan KocanThe mixture of Donmar Warehouse artistic director Michael Grandage and gifted baritone Mariusz Kwiecien seemed just like a potent one -- the first kind making his Metropolitan Opera pointing debut with a brand new manufacture of Mozart's "Don Giovanni," the second presenting NY to his acclaimed interpretation from the title role. But it wasn't to become, because of an injuries that sidelined Kwiecien. Fill-in Peter Mattei couldn't save the evening from a feeling of disappointment: Grandage has created a staging that professionally experiences the paces without delivering much when it comes to insight or excitement. It's possibly churlish to grouse about Mattei when he walked in on such short notice, but the reality is he lacks the charisma of Kwiecien, who happens to be a effective presence onstage. Because the sexy Don, Mattei comes off a lot more like a tall, gawky frat boy from a Judd Apatow film, and the voice, while fluid, doesn't carry the burnished, oaken quality one craves for that part. It was a production created to showcase Kwiecien's star charisma, that might have invigorated the proceedings. Grandage's primary departure from tradition would be to move the experience in the early 17th century towards the mid-18th, and also to add a little more groping and fondling than we are accustomed to seeing. Set and costume designer Christopher Oram produces a production heavy on monochrome, having a unit set showing three tiers of balconied home windows that frequently split apart into modular sections and function as a type of arcaded backdrop. What looks striking at curtain's rise starts to put on thin through the finish from the lengthy evening. Grandage does, however, deliver a coup for that finale: Giovanni makes his trip lower to Hell supported by huge bursts of real flame so effective you are able to have the warmth shooting out in to the auditorium. The cast is uneven, with bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni giving the evening's most appealing and well-rounded performance as Giovanni's unhappy servant Leporello. Ramon Vargas is really a type of elegance as Don Ottavio his exquisite "Il mio tesoro" in Act II makes him a sustained ovation. Joshua Blossom is definitely an endearing Masetto with fine-grained tone, but Stefan Kocan proves a shaky-voiced, unimposing Commendatore. The ladies fare poorly, with Barbara Frittoli as Donna Elvira making particularly rough, patchy sounds throughout Act I. Marina Rebeka is really a believably tortmented Donna Anna, and her voice rings out remarkably in the upper register, but she lacks the load and gravity essential for the role's heavier, more declamatory sections. Mojca Erdmann is serviceable but a bit more as Zerlina. Within the pit, Fabio Luisi ably substitutes for that indefinitely-sidelined James Levine he conducts from the harpsichord, which he comes with all the opera's recitatives.Set and costume designer, Christopher Oram lighting designer, Paule Constable. Opened up and examined March. 13, 2011. Running time: 3 Hrs, 30 MIN. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com